Comments on: Making Mondays — and your week — more productive

By: ninakk

ninakk — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:57:07 +0000

I’m a fan of GTD as well. Like someone above stated, Sundays are generally my planning days. I like to review the upcoming week (here the week begins on Monday) and check birthdays out (can be automatically imported to iCal when you’ve added a birthday to your contact card in Address Book on Mac, you just have to set such a calendar up!), other special occasions, tasks, important deadlines and not as important things which might be squeezed in if there’s time.

I bought an iPod touch for the purpose of being electronical everywhere and so the calendar goes with me as it has been at last synchronization. Changes made while on-the-go are then synchronized in the other direction once I’m at home again. Perfect especially since my lecture schedules are available as iCal files too; more than once there have been changes during the semester so you can imagine what my poor Moleskine was capable of looking like – I never liked using pencils…

By: panig

panig — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 06:07:53 +0000

Thanks to everyone who recommended the Outlook option. I did not know about the calendar feature of Outlook as I don’t use Outlook for email. I don’t like to carry a binder and am not logged onto a computer a lot. Printing out a daily and a monthly plan is convenient.

By: Bird1128

Bird1128 — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:11:18 +0000

I also go old fashioned with paper and pencil. I print out the monthly views of the Outlook calendar for the calendar year (blank), binder clip them and – voila! – there’s my planner. I only use pencil.

Every now and then, if I have a string of busy days or a busy weekend, I’ll take a blank piece of paper, fold it as many times as I need for the number of days I need to plan and write out a more detailed schedule for those few days with any action items that go with it (and clip it to the calendar). But that’s pretty rare. The calendar is usually plenty. Online calendars don’t work for me because I don’t have a PDA that let’s me access that info at all time and I like to have my calendar with me always. When the month passes, I turn the page but keep the history attached. I often have to reference old dates/activities and it’s helpful to keep them.

It does get dog-eared and stained and ratty, but I use it and it works!

By: Linda Thiltgen

Linda Thiltgen — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:43:05 +0000

I find if I like my planner it helps me stay to task. I don’t like my planner this year…paper is not a good quality to write on and it’s boring visually, and I am NOT on task. A good planner makes a huge difference. I have been spinning…and wondering if it is advantageous to actually take the Franklin Covey seminar for time management. Do you think its worth it….or can I do it on my own with one of their planners? Thanks for the post. I’m enjoying the daily unclutterer tips.
Linda T

By: Christine (The Raw Project)

Christine (The Raw Project) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:07:15 +0000

Great post and the last statement is so true. I need to get more in the habit of just reviewing my calendar and tasks for the week and Monday morning seems like a logical time.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:04:10 +0000

Jami, I write a blog about paper planners and have posted reviews of many different brands and formats of planners. If you need some ideas, come on over and check it out: plannerisms.com

And you are right, I have to remind even myself: the best planner in the world won’t work for you if you don’t USE it!

I love this post about figuring out when you are most productive, and planning your day around those times.

I also love Cal Newport’s Sunday Ritual as posted above by Jonathan! That’s useful even to those of us who are not students!

By: Jami

Jami — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 06:44:18 +0000

I would be interested in your thoughts on using a pen & paper planner. I have been a little (okay, a lot) overwhelmed/distracted by the many, MANY online options and haven’t felt like anything is really helping me keep it “together”. I’m wondering if an old-fashioned, pen & paper method might work better for me. I have gone back and forth on the Google tools, using them, not using them and back again. Maybe a lack of consistency is my bigger problem here…

By: Matt Hixson

Matt Hixson — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:19:39 +0000

I have implemented various parts of GTD over the years and the one thing that has stuck with me is the weekly review process. I do this every Sunday and do a full review of all projects and tasks. Each day I spend 5 minutes making sure that I am still aligned on all the best things for the day.

By: omglawdork

omglawdork — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:37:39 +0000

Thirded on the Google Calendar – my husband and I were consistently scheduling things on top of each other’s work trips or other commitments before we got everything in one place on the G!Cal, which is accessible from our phones. I even have it synced up to my work calendar so I can add items at work and see personal and work conflicts in one place before I ever commit to anything.

I’ve been a “Paper Pilot” person since I was in middle school, but between Google Calendar and Google Tasks (also accessible from my beloved BBerry) I’m finding that I’m using my paper planner less and less.

By: Carmen

Carmen — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:21:04 +0000

My family found Teuxdeux.com a few months ago, and we really liked it. It’s not perfect, but you can access it from any computer with internet access, or print out the day’s plan if you want to.

By: Michele Connolly, Get Organized Wizard

Michele Connolly, Get Organized Wizard — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:14:37 +0000

‘Glorious, glorious coffee’ – you’re a woman after my own heart, Erin!

I really like your idea of working out when you’re most/least productive. I use a ‘template’ weekly schedule (http://www.getorganizedwizard......-template/) that takes into account my best days and best times for all my regular tasks. When I have to schedule appointments I can work around the precious times and enjoy more productivity.

By: chacha1

chacha1 — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:53:36 +0000

I have pretty much the simplest analog solution … I print out the month calendar from Outlook and write my hard-and-fast commitments on it (glass of wine with BFF Monday night, teach Wednesday night, drop off cat at vet Friday, etc). That makes it easy for me to judge how much time I have left in the week.

The blocks are large enough to write fairly detailed notes but the whole calendar page folds up into my handbag. It’s not pretty but I carry it everywhere (weightless) and it is working for me VERY well. Free, too!

By: Nick Mason

Nick Mason — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:32:04 +0000

This is great advice! I actually like to break it down further than this, every day before I leave my desk I make a list of the top 3 or so tasks I need/want to accomplish the next day. The list helps me refocus after I respond to an email or handle something small…and it feels great to cross something or multiple big things off your list during the day.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:20:35 +0000

Cal Newport has discussed the benefits of a similar Sunday ritual on his blog (which is geared toward students). As a life-long procrastinator, I can testify that using this along with a couple of other strategies (like switching from to-do lists to time-block scheduling) really transformed my grad school performance. It's a small change, but it had a major impact on work and after-work life. Life distractions have recently pushed the Sunday/Monday ritual out of my schedule, but this post reminded me why I need to bring it back. Thanks!

By: Jenny

Jenny — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:18:20 +0000

Thanks for the input, Erin. That is a good point. I’m used to working 8-5 staring at a computer screen. Full time classes and TA responsiblities are going to take some getting used to.